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A Gaming Diary
Dr. Awesome Plus+ (iPhone)
Oct 8th
I thought this would be like Trauma Center, but with your finger, rather than a stylus or Wiimote, standing in for scalpels, tweezers and the like.
It’s not.
It’s a tilt-controlled Qix clone with medical theming.
Luckily, it also happens to be great fun. The controls work well and it’s polished and the difficulty is based on your level, which can go down as well as up, so it’ll never get too hard.
The best part, though, is that it uses people from your contact list as patients.
I felt pretty awful when I killed my sister last night.
The only really eyebrow-raising part of the game is that it seems to only give you twenty-four real hours to save a patient, so you’ve got to play every day or they’ll die. Seems a bit harsh.
This version is free and is supported by some pretty ignorable ads, by the way. I’ll take a small ad at the bottom of the menu screen for a free game, but I don’t like how long it takes to download your data from the net every time you start the game.
Mr. HAND – The Hand Who Loved Me (iPhone)
Oct 8th
Not another vertically-scrolling Bond-themed, hand ‘em up! Haven’t we had enough of them already?
What?
Oh.
Well, this game was free last night, so I grabbed it.
You fly up the level, tilting left and right, trying to hit hands that you can beat and and avoid hands that will beat you.
It’s good fun, it works, but I didn’t feel that it had that special something that keeps you coming back to simple games like this. I’ll play it some more, though, and see if my opinion changes – these are very much first impressions.
Anyway, if it’s still free, go get it. Presentation-wise, you’ve never quite seen anything like it.
Edge Lite (iPhone)
Oct 8th
The full version’s back on the App Store, but costs £2.99, so I thought I’d play through the Lite before making a decision.
Oddly, I couldn’t control it. Bits that were easy last time I played were near impossible this time round. I’m not sure what’s changed, but it was a very frustrating experience and I didn’t even bother finishing the levels in the Lite version.
Won’t be buying the full version quite yet, then.
Brütal Legend Demo (PS3)
Oct 8th
Now this is more like it!
A properly, actually, excellent game with swearing and metal and heads flying and genuinely funny comedy cut scenes and a car that’s on fire and a beautiful cartoon lady and killing people with guitars and it just plain rocks. Hard.
Of course, it’ll probably have some terrible levels and awful boss fights, judging by Psychonauts, which was a great game ruined by too many difficulty spikes, but I loved this demo. Loved it.
And I want more. Lots more.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Republic Heroes Demo (PS3)
Oct 8th
By the standards of licensed children’s tat, this isn’t bad.
There are two missions – a Clone mission which is a scrolling twin-stick shooter and a Jedi mission which feels a bit like Lego Star Wars without the the Lego.
I enjoyed myself, but if a game’s got “Star Wars” in the title then I can enjoy anything that reaches a fairly low threshold of competence.
I suspect that the game’s not nearly as good as I think it is and I just got blinded by battle droids and light sabers.
Tumiki Training Night (iPhone)
Oct 7th
I remember playing this on the PC years ago.
It’s a horizontal 2D shooter where you can catch enemies after you’ve killed them and use them as extra shields/weapons.
It’s nice enough, with good tilt controls that – hurrah! – come with sensible calibration options, for once.
Not sure I’ll buy the full version, even for 59p, as this demo level lasts about as long as I want to play, but I’m glad I downloaded it.
Samurai: Way of the Warrior (iPhone)
Oct 7th
A lunchtime spent cutting off heads is never a lunchtime wasted.
I finished off level three and then breezed through level four without a single death. Either I’m getting better or the difficulty level is all over the place, even in this new version. I suspect I’m getting better, though.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Oct 7th
Back in McNulty after a long break, I found I had a new neighbour.
Perfect Balance: Harmony Lite (iPhone)
Oct 7th
I’ve been playing and enjoying the original web version of Perfect Balance, but I’ve finished all the levels. Last night I still felt the urge to play, but Flash runs horribly on my aging laptop at home, so instead of looking at the web-based sequel, I downloaded the Lite version of the iPhone version.
Didn’t take me long to get through the generous number of levels in the Lite, but it works well on the iPhone screen. I was worried about the accuracy, because when balancing things you really need to be pixel perfect, but I didn’t have any issues.
Anyway, I haven’t bought the full version yet – the Lite scratched my itch well enough last night – but I’m sure I will at some point.
Oh, yes, I should probably mention what type of game it is before I go, if the name and screen shot haven’t explained it well enough. Well, it’s a balancing game from the developer of the excellent iDrop Dead. There are some static shapes floating in space and you have to balance shapes on top of them to complete the level. It’s easy to pick up, the physics make sense and it’s really quite compulsive.
Real Racing (iPhone)
Oct 7th
Yet another game that I’m having to start from the beginning. I went in and did the first time trial in the career and got a silver trophy.
Couldn’t face a three race series so went and investigated the online options, which I’ve never tried before.
Maybe I’m just a bit dim, but it was all rather confusing. I had a choice of a couple of leagues, but I tried the first one and it wouldn’t let me do a race because I hadn’t unlocked that track in the single player game, so that was out.
Tried a second league and that let me play. I set times on three tracks – having to wait patiently for a timer to tick down between each race – then at the end I went into the Season Stats page and it showed me that I’d finished fourth in the league. I think that was the end, but there wasn’t a big ending screen with my results or anything, just that page. When I went it again the league was back in progress, though, I’m not sure what’s going on.
Like I said, I think I’m just being a bit dim, but I’ll stick to the single player stuff for now, I reckon.
